Keep It Simple

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With a title like "Keep it Simple" you would think I would choose a simple topic, however I chose the Brain, and let's face it, our brains are powerful and complicated. 

However as a simple girl, I need simple ways to help me understand things. Don't talk to me about neurons and firing, and try to help me understand what parts of my brain are lighting up when I eat a donut. Grab my hand and help me put down the donut? Its not that I don't find it interesting to hear how it all works, but I need practical solution as opposed to a science class.

Let's say that you are avid skier. You are so good that you are one of those guys that they drop out of a helicopter to the top of a mountain. You are able to navigate a safe path, dodging trees, jumping cliffs and eventually making a smooth landing at the bottom. The first few times you might hit the mountain and think about the direction and the easiest path, but it doesn't take long until you can safely reach the bottom of the mountain every time.  Day after day you are dropped onto this mountain until you have carved a nice groove and sail without thinking down the mountain with style. Then one day you are told you need to find a new path to the bottom because the old path has monster blocking it. You are dropped from the helicopter and "uh oh" you have to stop and think which way to go. You have to forge a new path to the bottom. You fall a few times and it takes you much longer, but eventually you get there. The next day you have to stop and think again. It takes a few days of trial and error, but successfully find a new path and change your destination. The old path is till there, and you could still go down it pretty easily, but it leads to a place you don't want to go. The new path may be unfamiliar but it leads to victory. 

New Habits=New life

5 Things I learned from Frugal People

I have frugal people in my close circle.

These people often get a bad wrap. Those of us who spend more freely might call them things like: tight wad, skin flint, stingy, in a good way, of course.

 

Life, time and age have a way of changing our thinking. 

It's a lot like the way you actually started to appreciate your mother; (assuming you had a fairly good mom)

•  after you moved out and ruined your first load of laundry
•  your first at  2AM after a night with a sick child
• after hours of dealing with a  hyper, whiney or strong willed 3 year old. 
• teenagers

As I have embarked on the journey of spending less, I am beginning to be aware of how much money gets wasted and have a new appreciation of the discipline of being frugal

Here are 5 things I have learned from my frugal friends;

1. If you really need it, it can wait till tomorrow. If you can't wait, than it's an impulse buy and you probably don't need it at all.

2. Everything you purchase comes at the expense of something else you might want later. 

For instance: If I decided to eat lunch out, or stop at Starbucks, I have to give up something else that I would have bought with that money.

3.I should not need to check my bank balance daily. If I stick to my  budget I should know what's there.

4.Always have a list when you go to the store and don't browse. That is temptation you don't need.

5.Saving up to do something and then having the satisfaction of paying for it afterwards feels awesome.

Hope Wirta

Rooted Biblical Counseling

The Space Inside My Head

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We all live inside our heads. 

This is the space that hold conversation inside of conversations. 

This is the space where fear, doubt, anger, shame and desire vie for attention.

Inside our heads we decide;

• What others are thinking about us
• Rerun old conversations thinking about what we should have said plan our futures, 
• View people around us and place them in our labeled people buckets

All within a matter of minutes

 Based on the freedom we allow in our thought lives we can go from elation to depression in seconds. If we allow our minds to wanders without restraint,  our emotions will take the lead and that rarely leads us to a better place.

What do you do if this person you have become is someone who has betrayed you on multiple occasions; sabotaged your success, spent your money, built up debt, hurt the people you love, and caused you to become someone you don't want to be? 

How do you keep the place in your head from becoming someplace you don't want to be. A place where you feel judged, accused and worthless. A place where negativity is the norm, arguments over calories, credit cards, careers, and relationships wont stop. You hear yourself make promise after promise, knowing they will never be kept, you never keep your promises, they are empty. You want to trust, to love, to believe, but you have been let down one to many times.

YOU NEED A SAVIOR! 

How do you turn the relationship around? How do you trust yourself again? The Biblical answer is: YOU DON'T!

You have allowed your thoughts to have their way, and believed the lie that somehow your thoughts happen to you. 

The truth is they are YOUR THOUGHTS! 

The truth is YOUR THOUGHTS DON'T HAPPEN TO YOU, THEY COME FROM YOU!

The truth is YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS

The truth is YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO THINK ABOUT

2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Psalm 139:23 Search me, God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect".

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Its time to invite a new voice into the conversation. It's time to silence the madness and let the quiet be.

It's time to slow down, look at your thoughts and decide if they square with the truth or if is a lie that you have allowed to take root. 

It's time to saturate your mind with truth, (found only in God's Word) 

It's time to put a halt to the frantic thinking. 

This is a place where you can rest and listen to the voice of acceptance and hope.

The voice of your Creator, the only One who loves you with no limits, reminding you that; your goals is not to fit in, be accepted by people, get thin, spend and hide or any other number of feel better quick schemes. 

Your goal is to learn to live in this love and  let it saturate you so completely that it effects the world around you. 

It's time to listen and learn so that when the lies attempt to take the space back you stop them in their tracks and shout the truth. I am loved, I am forgiven, I am free, and you don't have a place inside my head. 

This place is forever taken.

Hope Wirta

I would love to hear your comments!

RootedBiblicalCounseling.com

Revelation Culture

Freedom is One Choice Away

Every now and then I have to travel for work. The thing about traveling is it is always an excuse to say "This isn't real Life"

Budgets and calories cease to exist and the schedule goes out the window. Every day rules no longer hold any weight.

This same holds true for family gatherings, girls nights, holidays and birthdays. We overeat, overspend and then regret the indulgence until the next "special event."

When we over due it  our tendency is to compensate by starving ourselves and limiting our budgets. Just thinking about it exhausts me.

I once read a statistic that stated if you overate and overspent only on birthdays and holidays you would add 5 pounds a year to your weight and add $2000. to your debt annually.

The opposite is also true. If you were to cut 400 calories a day (and stop indulging in between) you would lose on average 2 pounds a month (that's a yogurt and 1/2 a specialty coffee.

If you spent $40. less per week, you would save over $3000. per year. (That's a vacation)

The roller coaster lifestyle never produces lasting results, however, small choices everyday on a consistent basis can result in the life you so desperately desire: freedom from diets, shame and that constant weight you carry around (metaphorically on your shoulders and physically on your mid section)

Those little impulse choices, can change you life!!

What if you could live in freedom, out in the open? What if you could stop hiding, secretly indulging? You can eat what you want in moderation when you are actually hungry? This life is once choice away. The next choice you make, and the next, and the next.

There is no quick fix in this world that will change you from the inside out. You have to take the hard road to change and each choice matters.

Freedom happens once choice at at time.

Instead of looking for excuses to indulge, enjoy each bite, each purchase and each minute as a gift from your loving Father (who by the way created all good things to bring you joy not shame). The lie that one more bite will bring you joy, or spending more money will bring happiness has never resulted in the life you seek, and it never will.

Joy and peace are found only in seeking God and knowing Him.  It may not give the same quick fix as a chocolate mouse, but the results last a lot longer, and bring joy instead of shame. (Just eat a couple of bites of that mouse and walk away)

1 Timothy 6:6-8 

But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Hope Wirta

 

Big Girl Pants

Big Girl Pants

Anyone who has ever had a 3 year old has been through the pain of potty training. It can be torture. Kids will do anything to not have to stop playing and go to the bathroom. 

Teaching a child that it is better to go to the potty to do your business instead of sitting in it, seems like it should be obvious, however out adorable little toddlers will continue to hide behind the couch thinking we won't notice the smell that follows.

Now and then you get an easy kid, but they are rare.

 In the area of impulse control I am a 4 year old pant pooper. 

Words, money, calories and time, all seem to slip away and leave me thinking; how did I let that happen again?

You would think after 20 years of sitting in my own mess I would easily run to the potty and want it to flush it away, but not me! I want to make more, and then I want to sit in it a long time, because it's fun to carry it around with me and stink up my life. 

Then I share the stink with those around me by complaining about the consequences of my choices.

I am fully aware that this makes no sense, but I have mastered the art. I, like the 4 year old can easily walk around pretending the mess is normal and smells just fine. 

Sometimes I think I may almost be ready for pull ups  but its a slow process. I still have little accidents. I like to keep playing, and watching shows and don't want to stop long enough to think about what comes next; a whole lot of doo doo.
When other's were cleaning up my mess, I didn't learn as quickly, but now that I have to clean it up on my own, it's nowhere near as much fun. Its time.

Stop: and be aware of your thought

Think: about the consequences or shameful feeling that will follow 

Choose: another door, or to wait another day (time to change your mind)

Flush: Un-useful thoughts and choices with unwanted consequences.

Life will smell a whole lot better when we put on our big girl pants and choose to stop making messes.

2 Timothy 1:7 

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

Proverbs 25:28

A man without self-control
    is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Hope Wirta

It's not you; It's me

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It's not you; It's me

Healthy relationships  encourage people to be the best versions of themselves. They don't try to force you to fill their every perceived need, they don't control you, badger you, call you every second to see where you are, or tempt you to do things that they know are bad for you. L

Love does what is best for you, even at it's own expense.

Based on this definition, I need to break up with Food. 

Food and I have been codependent for way to long. 

Food calls me, from wherever he is, asking me to find him and spend time with him. 

When I am hanging out with friends, he wants all of my attention. I can't even hear the people talking to me because he is calling my name.

We break up 3 times a month and then get back together again. He gets jealous when I try to live without him and calls me 6 times a day, even when I am working. 

The problem is every time I break up with him, he's all I think about. 

When I am with him he makes me feel so happy, but afterwards I always feel miserable about our time
together.
I tried going out with his friend "diet" a few times, but it was worse. He just wanted to keep my all to himself and would never let me hang out with any of my old friends. Everyone else was off limits.

If I am every going know the  freedom God intended for me I am going to have to walk away and grieve the loss of this lifelong relationship. I know I will want to go back, I know I will feel the loss for a long time. It will hit me most when I am lonely and bored, or at 2AM when I can't sleep, but I am ready to be free. I am ready to give my attention to things that matter. I am ready to think about someone else. 

 I'll make sure he knows, it's not you, it's me. We can still be friends.

There is someone else, if I am being honest. I have found a love that does not leave me feeling shame, and has sacrificed everything to be with me.

Hebrews 13:5b

Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you

Hope Wirta

Just One More Bite

Just One More

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Just one more bite, a little something sweet after lunch, a pick me up at two in the afternoon followed by another cup of  coffee, and a snack before bed.  

What does true hunger feel like?

I have never been a successful fast-er, although I know it is proven to be great for your health. I think it is best to look at fasting as denying myself what I want for periods of time.

For me that would be a snack and Amazon fast. 

I would probably all that extra weight in a month if I chose to go without the extra bite, extra piece, little tastes and drinks.
Its the same with money. Five bucks a day for a month is $150., 10 bucks a day for month is $300, add and extra $3. and you have just rounded off the little extras a day to $540. a month (coffee, Amazon, extra's as you grocery shop, stuff that ends up in the garage collecting dust)  you could easily be at $600 a month. If you were to put that amount of money in savings for 10 years at a only a 1% earning you would have $80,000., and a size lower in jeans. 

My point isn't to give everything up. That's the kind of thinking that puts us on the diet, budget teeter totter, leaving us feeling confused and defeated. 

My point is to be more aware of  how often we don't think about our choices. 

I won't let bad habits choose my life. 

 I don't want to be fighting the same battles I was 10 years ago. I won't listen to the lie that says I have changed, when I know all I have done is shift my comfort habits.

That whole tortoise and hare story is making a whole lot more sense the older I get. Moving forward in the right direction, is better than not moving at all.
My goal this week is to make choices, to snack-fast and spend-fast for longer periods of time.
I want to choose, notice, be present, and watch those little choices add up to big results over time. 

My ammunition verses: 2 Corinthians 10:5  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself
up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

James 4:1-10 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

4 You adulterous people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us[b]? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”[c]
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Hope Wirta

Habits/Shame Loops. Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

A good week is a week where I choose what I know is right.  I know what I need to do, and I do it. I am strong, determined, and self controlled. I get to the end of the week, my weight is down and I have money left over in my spending bucket.

That is a great feeling!!

Then, since I have had such a great week, I feel the need to celebrate. The ensuing celebration then proceeds to negate all the progress made the week before, and maybe add a little damage just for good measure.

Fun is followed by shame. 

I lay awake beating myself up.  

I wake up on Monday and do it all again; lather, rinse, repeat.
In this journey to learn to make choices, renew the way I think, and live in step with the freedom God intended  for me, I have run across a few stumbling blocks, namely; happiness, anxiety, sadness, anger, loneliness, exhaustion and boredom. All of these emotions, and maybe a few I missed, are  the excuses I use to  let impulse habits run my life. Where do I go from here? 

Choices are not impulses, and Emotions are not good advice.

Emotions matter, but they do not tell the truth. The truth sets us free from the bondage of impulsive living. We must stop, think and make a choice. 

Now that I know temptation will be waiting right behind emotional highs and lows, I can anticipate his next move; before I find myself on another sleepless Sunday night wondering  "what just happened?"

You know you're a SpEATer when

You know you're a SpEATer (spender + eater)

When obsessing over dieting and spending becomes more of an addiction than eating and spending; you might be a SPEATER.
When you weigh yourself 4 times a day (after using the restroom, taking off your shoes, or before your morning coffee) and your scale measures ounces instead of pounds, you might be a SPEATER.
If your monthly credit card payments looks more like a mortgage, you might be a SPEATER.
If you have restarted your eating plan every Monday for 15 years, you might be a SPEATER.
If you have never had to cut your fingernails because your teeth will do, you might be a SPEATER

If you lose sleep bathed in shame over each day's choices, you might be a SPEATER.

If you spend most of your check in the first two days after payday you might be a SPEATER.
If you lay awake counting carbs and calories  you might be a SPEATER.

If you have hiding places for Amazon packages, purchases or food, you might be a SPEATER
If you have clothes with tags still on them in your closet, you might be a SPEATER.
If you have crumbs on the front seat of you car, and fast food bags in the back, you might be a SPEATER.
If you wonder where that pizza went, you might be a SPEATER.
If  it is music to your ears when the cashier says "you can save 10% by applying for a card today" you might be a SPEATER.
If you go to the movies and look forward to the popcorn more than the movie, you might be a SPEATER.
If you are thinking about breakfast after dinner, you might be a SPEATER.
Just know....you are not alone, and the Bible promises that His word has all we need for life and Godliness.

He won't leave you where you are.

Philippians 1:6

He WILL finish the work He began in YOU!!

Journal Hoarder

Journal Hoarder

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I love office supplies almost as much as I love chocolate.

There is a certain smell when you walk into a book store or an office supply store that makes me pause and smile.

I don't know if it's paper, ink or the glue that binds books, but there is no smell like it. It move my joy meter from 0 to 100 in seconds.

I feel joy when I open a blank journal or a brand new pen. 

If you were to go to the right shelf in my office you would find a large stack of partially used journals, various shapes and sizes, prints and colors, they are padded, leather, paper back and soft back., some have lined paper, some with blank pages. 

I love them all!

One of my favorite journaling past times

Those blank pages hold unlimited possibilities. What will I fill these pages with? I think of themes, topics, people, lists……It all makes me feel inspired. 

Then there is the perfect pen. People get cranky if you take their favorite pen. They tape flowers to them and place them in coffee cups full of marbles, tie them to the desk and track them down when they go missing. The right pen is hard to find. 

I don't need a journal and I don't need a pen. Why don't I just walk on by? Why do I spend money thinking that one more journal or one more pen is going to meet a need? One more, is a theme in my life. One more bite, one more word, one more journal, none of which I need. 

A line that sticks with me each time I buy or eat something I don't need is; habits only die by being starved to death, one bite at a time. Not only would it help my pocket book and waistline, but the truth is, I want to grow and be content with buying only what I NEED, eating only when I am hungry and speaking only when it benefits others. 

When I FEEL like buying, eating or speaking, I am learning that real joy comes when I obey, walk away and remember, that "feelings matter, but they are not the truth." Feeling lie, and bad habits that promise joy only let me down later.

I choose truth, freedom and real joy! One choice at a time.  

1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Ephesians 4:29 Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.

Hope Wirta

Freedom or Bust

 

Freedom or Bust

For 20 most of my life I had been in one of two place; feeling guilty or feeling stressed. If I stopped worrying about money and food I felt guilty. If I went on a diet or budget I would stress constantly about doing it right

.

 The scale and checkbook balance became my daily measure of success.

My mind was obsessively going over calories, counting carbs, or assessing my current debt situation. This rabbit hole usually ended with a bowl of ice cream to calm myself down.

There were very few days that I ever felt free of the burden of my habits. I was afraid that I was doomed to failure and a life where I would just be fat and broke forever.
I had seen glimpses of freedom, days when truth would penetrate the influx of information. I had been consuming books on the subject. The good days, but they were far and few between. The draw of the habits was strong, the need for the outside control diets and budgets felt safe. Even if they hadn't worked.
Don't misunderstand me, I am not saying you should eat and spend "willy-nilly". I am saying those "tools" can become just as much a habit as eating and spending. I spent most of my life between binging or dieting, spending or budgeting. I was anything but free.

ONE DAY I HAD FINALLY HAD ENOUGH. In all my years of struggling I was fatter and broker than when I had started. It was time to get off the merry go round.

So I decided that for me it was freedom or bust. I was going to learn to walk one day at a time without the control of a diet. My goal is to make choices one at a time. To CHOOSE, not be compelled, or controlled by my emotions. I don't know where you are on your journey or if you believe in God, but without faith in Him, this would not be possible for me.  Alcoholics Anonymous calls on a higher power when they realize they are helpless to change on their own. I was, and am, there on a daily basis. For me, I am a Christian. As a Christian  I believe I was created; I also believe that my creator knows me and promises that if I walk with His spirit I will not carry out the desires that want to sabotage me.
That is my goal. Choosing to follow and live in freedom versus  being controlled by compulsions or unrealistic restrictive plans that leave me with regret and shame. I choose freedom.